In anticipation of an amphibious military attack along a particular stretch of beach, defenders might deploy anti land-craft mines and anti-tank mines along the beach zone. The assault force will typically seek to defeat the mines via a counter-mine system before landing on the beach.
According to one proposed counter-mine system, hundreds of thousands of small caliber (e.g., 50 caliber, etc.) “darts” that contain high explosive (“HE”) material are rained-down upon the mine-laden beach zone. The darts are delivered via missile(s) from military aircraft. In one design, upon impact with a mine casing or lid, a brief delay timer within the dart is initiated. The delay provides time (e.g., 500 microseconds, etc.) for the dart to penetrate the lid and reach the mine's explosive (e.g., TNT, etc.) payload. After this brief delay and with the dart's HE material within the mine's payload, the dart's HE material is detonated, thereby neutralizing the mine.
If a dart does not impact a mine, its timer will not be initiated. If this occurs, the dart will simply come to rest, unexploded, a few feet into the sand or soil of the beach zone. As a function of the mine-field density, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of unexploded darts might litter the beach zone.
Unexploded darts pose an extreme risk to civilians, in particular children. A curious child tampering with an unexploded dart might inadvertently trigger its HE payload with dire consequences. Furthermore, HE material recovered from unexploded darts by enemy combatants could be used to create improvised explosive devices that could be used, in turn, against the assault force.